


the bigger fool

by yournoona



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Unrequited Love, maybe not idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 16:56:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21256586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yournoona/pseuds/yournoona
Summary: choi seungcheol, psychology major.it was the first time jeonghan found himself mesmerized in the boy.





	the bigger fool

**Author's Note:**

> this was written around mansae-aju nice era, i have no idea. i found it rotting away in my folders so i thought it would be a shame to not post it. hopefully it is enjoyed despite the lack of check ups!

_maybe seungcheol found jeonghan too irresistible._

he was blonde, with styled hair that stuck out in the midst of earth-colored hair in the midst of their orientation group. he adorned irresistible pouty pink lips and eyes slightly droopy, somewhat resembling that of a puppy’s. he had also approached jeonghan, smile wide and blinding as his grin showcased his gums as he sheepishly introduced himself.

choi seungcheol, psychology major.

it was the first time jeonghan found himself mesmerized in the boy.

oddly enough, and also luckily for jeonghan, they had turned out to be neighbors at their dorms, seungcheol claiming it was a stroke of fate!! for the both of them, with two psychology majors close by.

jeonghan didn’t believe in fate, but maybe the heavens really were granting upon him their blessings.

his only response back then was a short smile, not wanting to make himself obvious if he acted upon whatever he had wished. it hadn’t been long since he had come out during high school, and though the experience wasn’t exactly terrible, he had experienced the disturbed glances thrown at him whenever he passed by the school corridors. nevertheless, he had ended high school with barely any friends, his own so-called ‘best friend’ of his ditching his ass upon discovering his sexuality. choi seungcheol seemed like a decent guy, but he didn’t want to risk anything yet during the start of his college.

maybe it was too narrow of his mind to assume seungcheol would find his sexuality a problem, but he really couldn’t find himself to tell the boy. yet. it wasn’t really a matter one would bring up all of a sudden, claiming themselves to prefer males over their counterparts. god forbid seungcheol from finding him weird if anything as such happened.

“when did you grow out your hair? i thought school was too strict for such things.” seungcheol once asked him, body splayed out on the floor of jeonghan’s dorm after he had self-excused himself inside (not that jeonghan protested anyway). they were reviewing a thick textbook the introductory professor had assigned, deciding to split the book into two and divide the job instead of having to read the whole thing by themselves. only the first semester in and being told to read such a thick book was probably too much for seungcheol to handle, as he had informed jeonghan that psychology was a major his parents had suggested despite his interest in music.

jeonghan twirled the pen in his fingers, humming nonchalantly as he underlined a certain definition deemed important. “before graduation, after we did our exams and all. it’s not like they’d do anything.”

“wow, you’re lucky. at our school they’d shave our heads if they went longer than our neck or something.” he stared at jeonghan again, eyes admiring the untied brown (dyed before he had entered college) locks that fell to his shoulders, a few of it blocking jeonghan’s eyes from returning the look at seungcheol. that itself was a relief for jeonghan would find himself blushing at how unashamedly seungcheol looked at him.

jeonghan laughed, shaking his head at the memories. “oh no, don’t assume i was let off that easily. i was called several times to the principal’s office but eh, you know.” he ended with a shrug.

“stubborn?” he looked amused at the fact, eyes slightly crinkling as he let out a small laugh.

“mm.” jeonghan agreed, sitting up from his spot on the bed to change his position, feeling his shoulders ache a bit. what he didn’t expect though was to have seungcheol climb up on the bed at the additional bed, bringing up his books with him.

“scoot over will you, it’s rude to let the guest lie on the floor—“

scoffing, jeonghan gave a judging look towards his elder (only by a few months). “you practically came in here by yourself.”

“hey, it’s better to get this done as soon as possible!”

“we have the whole week left to do this, why’d you have to insist on getting it done now?” grumbled the brunet, brushing his hair back with an exasperated sigh.

“because,” he stopped, turning to face jeonghan with a grin—and oh god it was such a cute puppy-looking grin jeonghan couldn’t dare to—“i was thinking you could come with me to see the movies, there’s something i’m dying to see.”

_oh._

during the weekend, jeonghan had to tell himself repeatedly it wasn’t a date or anything of the sort. seungcheol was probably straight—yeah, most obviously—and they were just two guys, buddies, out to watch a movie. an action marvel movie, nonetheless. he swore if it was anyone else, he would have refused, claiming he’d never seen much or bothered to follow up on their installations and who in the world was captain america, at least he was aware iron man was some rich scientist with really just too much money.

after returning with the popcorn and cola and iced tea for himself thank you very much, jeonghan didn’t appreciate gas in his system, they headed inside their theater, taking the middle seats after seungcheol’s argument about how too much couples occupied the backseats.

true to jeonghan’s expectations, he had found himself not quite immersed in the movie as much as seungcheol was, obvious whenever he occasionally snuck glances at the elder, at times mouth agape as he watched the action scenes unfold. he found the sight quite amusing, chuckling to himself and only wishing he was able to take a picture if only such a thing would even be allowed in theaters. shame. maybe he’d ask for a movie night at their dorms and he’d be able to sneak a picture.

once they had walked out of the theater, people bustling with how great the movie was, seungcheol was no different. his eyes shone, excitement after having seen the movie as he asked jeonghan if he had seen such and such. jeonghan could only nod, squeezing his mind to remember when such scenes happened. that was, only after he had noticed seungcheol was smirking at him.

“you fell asleep, didn’t you?”

_oops._

“what—“ he looked embarrassed, jeonghan didn’t want to disappoint the elder, thinking he hadn’t enjoyed their time (not a date) outside.

“i’m sorry, i thought you’d enjoy the movie.” there was a sheepish smile on his lips, and jeonghan couldn’t help but feel bad he really hadn’t tried to enjoy the movie. “maybe we could see something you like next time, yeah? you pick.”

“of course. we’ll go see what i want next time.” he shot seungcheol a playful smile, not too long before he looked away in case he felt his face heat up.

“definitely.” there was a certainty to his words, and jeonghan was glad for that.

they managed to arrive at their dorms just in time before curfew, the two exchanging their good night greetings in front of their doors before they both went inside, crashing for the night.

only, jeonghan had trouble sleeping that night.

the next day, jeonghan had earned a visit from junhui, a chinese exchange student he had discovered upon using a gay dating app around their school premises. junhui studied in their neighboring school and though the both of them harbored no romantic feelings for each other, they had both grown closer with their secret. the chinese male was also still in his third year of high school and was supposed to busy himself with cram school and the like, yet there he was on jeonghan’s bed, taking a whiff of his cigarette.

it was like old times, the both of them smoking on the school rooftop after jeonghan’s evening classes, the pressure of going to college added with the recent discovery of his coming out to the school had caused him extra stress. jeonghan looked at junhui, the younger offering a smoke, lighting it up for him when jeonghan agreed with a nod. he thought maybe junhui was a little lonely after he had graduated, and there was probably something more he had wanted to say, judging from the look in his eye, the excited yet tucked in impatience.

jeonghan would smell like smoke later but he figured he would wash it off with a shower and only hope seungcheol wouldn’t visit his dorm until the stench wafted off.

“i met someone.” junhui started, eyes boring into the wall in front of him though there was a short smile on his lips. he raised an eyebrow at the look on his feature; this one, jeonghan couldn’t decipher.

“oh? was there finally someone else besides us around the school in the app?”

“nah,” he shook his head, exhaling the smoke out of his nose. “i went to this bar—“

“wait, aren’t you underage—“

“yeah.” he turned to the elder, this time adorning a giddy smile on his lips. “and guess what, so was he.”

“wow, what were the chances.”

“yeah, but i never got to get his name or anything, it was just a one night thing.” there was a frustrated smile, and jeonghan figured it had only happened recently, with junhui intruding upon his place to vent out his story.

“tell me what he’s like.”

“well he was tall.” junhui started, irises rolling upwards as he recalled the male’s appearance. “he had sharp eyes, and dark hair, and appeared sort of broody, you know? but he’s actually such an awkward dork. who’s not very funny but is funny in that way.”

jeonghan hummed to show the boy he was listening, frame leaning against the head of his bed as he waited for junhui to continue.

but there was a pause, and maybe junhui either didn’t want to say much or didn’t know much and instead turned to jeonghan, his previous blank look as he was describing the male turning into a cheeky, playful grin. “you got prettier, you know?”

“oh shut up,” retorted the elder, giving the younger’s leg a kick. “anyways, you’re going to keep me company here once you graduate right?”

“if i pass.” junhui responded, heaving a sigh, and jeonghan kicked him again for such pessimistic words.

junhui left not long after dusk, leaving jeonghan to immediately wash himself to rid himself of the remaining stench of nicotine. though it wasn’t odd for males his age to be smoking specially at college, he just specially didn’t like to make himself be known as a smoker.

it was only for him, god (if he existed) and maybe wen junhui to know.

-

seungcheol and jeonghan attended a few of their classes together, at some times, the two of them separating to join their club of friends in class. jeonghan had jihoon and jisoo, friends he had gained in _basics of psychology¸_ one of the classes he and seungcheol had on differing schedules. jihoon was nice . . . and jeonghan couldn’t find anything bad to say about the boy yet, aside from his tendency to look like a sugarcane despite his insistence he was not, cute. and jisoo could be a little too self-confident at times, but the two proved to be good friends to jeonghan so far.

seungcheol was close to one named wonwoo, the both of them also attending music club together. wonwoo’s features reminded jeonghan heavily of the boy junhui had talked about, but he figured the chances of them being the same person was probably really low. his height was taller than seungcheol and he really did give a dark vibe junhui had described as, only to see it break off whenever he laughed along with seungcheol. of course, he found seungcheol’s laugh more attractive, gummy smile all evident whenever he laughed with his eyes crinkling. just like the first time when he had met the boy.

today though, they had to attend _applying psychology in life _together due to the assignment they had worked together on, and it was best to sit together in case the professor decided to give any quiz sections due to the both of them aware that they had only succeeded on mastering half of the book each. which was probably dumb when you thought about it, but the book was thick, proven when jeonghan heaved a sigh as he dropped it on the table in front of him. students were slowly starting to take their seats and jeonghan was glad he had pestered seungcheol to hurry and come in early, this way they could take the middle seats—not too front to be right in the lecturer’s face and not too behind where the lecturer would keep eyeing them in case they weren’t paying attention. 

“thank god the seniors warned us about the quiz.” seungcheol spoke, taking out his laptop where he had written his notes in. “who knows what would have happened if we dived in into war without knowing the situation.”

“you’re exaggerating.” jeonghan laughed softly, eyeing the professor that walked inside just at the moment so he kept his voice down.

at that, seungcheol merely smiled, before responding shortly to end the conversation. “maybe, but it’s nice to have a partner. it’s like science lab all over again!”

jeonghan found the comparison ridiculous, but he was too accustomed to whatever the boy said that he found himself laughing, hiding it under his palm and quickly pursing his lips once the professor turned to his direction, head bowing down to look at his book instead.

curse you, choi seungcheol.

it wasn’t hard to warm up to seungcheol, despite how jeonghan tended to avoid him at times to stop himself from growing any romantic feelings. at times, he would give in whenever choi seungcheol intruded upon his dorm, sometimes doing nothing and simply listening to music together, seungcheol letting jeonghan listen to a few of his beats once in a while. seungcheol could sing pretty well, and he rapped too – and jeonghan found himself wondering what else the boy really couldn’t do. he took care of his physique as well, sparing time to the campus gym using his student id.

“jeonghan!” seungcheol whined, and jeonghan was broken off his thoughts, suddenly recalling the one thing the elder was mediocre, or maybe bad at, sometimes.

“what now?” he leaned over the blond’s shoulder, eyes searching for any word seungcheol would have trouble with.

seungcheol pointed at a certain word, proven to be difficult indeed with its difficult spelling and jeonghan sat back with an amused laugh as he thought of how to explain the term.

being neighbors, it was easy to study for the upcoming finals together, with seungcheol merely needing to bang on the younger’s door to gain entrance. it almost felt like seungcheol lived there, at some days sleeping over when he would be too lazy to walk next door to go back to his own room. of course jeonghan kept his space, sticking to the wall to avoid any unwanted incidents. maybe normal boys didn’t think much of it, maybe normal boys just slept however they would like, maybe—but jeonghan didn’t know.

seungcheol’s sleeping face was adorable, jeonghan would notice when he would wake up earlier, restless, even though he had slept later than seungcheol. his pouty lips would be slightly apart during days he was exhausted and with such close distance, jeonghan appreciated the time he gained admiring his handsome features. such lashes the boy owned also made jeonghan jealous, the same lashes that would flutter whenever the boy would beg jeonghan for something – the ones that made choi seungcheol very, very adorable and irresistible.

of course, jeonghan would get up quickly, opting to shower first and usher seungcheol to shower as well before he would come back again after mid-day, asking jeonghan where he ditched his socks in his room.

“hey, why don’t you come over to my room?” seungcheol asked out of the blue, peering over the blue notebook he was writing on as he looked at the other male.

now that jeonghan thought about it, he never really had a chance to visit the other’s room. it wasn’t that jeonghan didn’t want to—it was just that seungcheol was mostly the one doing the intruding and approaching. “you’re right,” he pursed his lips, tapping his pen against the textbook perched on his lap. “and you also owe me the movie i’d like to see.”

“oops sorry about that, you asked at a horrible time,” seungcheol returned his attention to his book, pen writing down probably lyrics to his new beat, jeonghan guessed, rather than what they were supposed to be revising on. “i’m low on cash at the moment, i might have used my allowance to gain new speakers for our new group…” he grit his teeth and gave jeonghan a look, expressing guilt.

“i was thinking we could just watch the movie in your room,” he states boldly and _what the hell was he thinking, but screw it!! _“the movies aren’t really showing anything i’d like to see anyway.”

“oh?” seungcheol looks excited, his eyes gleaming brightly and jeonghan chews on his lower lip, wondering if he had made a wrong proposition. “sounds great to me! well we can take it that i spent my money well then, i got bomb-ass speakers.”

rolling his eyes, jeonghan scoffed as he tucked the strands of hair that fell in front of his eyes behind his ear. “excuses. you owe me packs of cheeseballs and potato chips in exchange.”

“deal!”

despite their semester finals being a week away, seungcheol and jeonghan immediately book the next day away from studying, opting to merely chill in seungcheol’s room since jeonghan’s room was study room, he claimed.

true to his words, lied a bowl filled with two packs of cheeseballs and potato chips each (salty flavored, as jeonghan had liked) while the flat-screen was idle to its dvd player.

“wow,” jeonghan muttered, taking a good look around the room. “it feels like an urban place here. why didn’t i come here earlier?”

“i know right,” the blond grinned cockily, placing two beanbags in front of the screen. “it’s your fault.” he teased playfully.

the long-haired brunet plopped down on the grey beanbag, leaving the black one unoccupied for seungcheol to sit on. he reached for one of the cheeseball packs, causing the elder to click his tongue at how quick jeonghan was with the food.

“what?” he cocked an eyebrow as he handed seungcheol the dvd, a copy of _mulan, _seungcheol doing the same when he saw the movie jeonghan had picked.

“what, mulan?” he questioned, though his hands opened the case to slip in the dvd to play the movie.

“what’s wrong with mulan? it’s a disney classic.” jeonghan retorted, eyeing the blonde that took his place beside him.

“i know, i’ve seen my sister watch her disneys a lot. but i never got to actually sit down and really watch it.”

“well now you do,” he shot the elder a short smile before popping the cheeseballs in his mouth.

seungcheol hummed, letting the movie start as it commenced with how much of a mess the main female had caused on one of her supposed matchmaking meetings. there was a laugh at the comedic scenes, before taking a mellow turn as it played its ost.

“ah this is the song you always hum to!” seungcheol commented in realization, earning an approving hum from jeonghan as his eyes focused on the screen.

this time, seungcheol didn’t have his mouth agape like the last time they went out to see a movie. mulan probably wasn’t too amazing for seungcheol to find himself in awe, but he appreciated the immersed look on his features when the movie was nearing its climax. perhaps jeonghan was giving seungcheol too much of his attention. no, perhaps jeonghan paid seungcheol too much attention since he found himself paying more notice to seungcheol than his favorite movie that played.

under the dim lights of seungcheol’s room, in front of a bright tv screen and loud clear speakers that seungcheol was proud of, jeonghan found himself mesmerized, a second time, by the boy.

perhaps seungcheol was an idiot to not realize his feelings, but jeonghan felt like the bigger fool.


End file.
